BILL NUMBER: SB 1748	CHAPTERED  09/28/00

	CHAPTER   814
	FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE   SEPTEMBER 28, 2000
	APPROVED BY GOVERNOR   SEPTEMBER 28, 2000
	PASSED THE SENATE   AUGUST 30, 2000
	PASSED THE ASSEMBLY   AUGUST 28, 2000
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY   AUGUST 25, 2000
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY   AUGUST 7, 2000
	AMENDED IN SENATE   MAY 22, 2000
	AMENDED IN SENATE   APRIL 25, 2000
	AMENDED IN SENATE   APRIL 6, 2000

INTRODUCED BY   Senator Perata

                        FEBRUARY 23, 2000

   An act to add Section 4341.1 to the Welfare and Institutions Code,
relating to mental health.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SB 1748, Perata.  Mental health services programs.
   Existing law requires the State Department of Mental Health to
administer various mental health programs.
   This bill would specify the representatives of the task force
funded by the Budget Act of 2000 to address and identify options for
meeting the staffing needs of state and county health, human
services, and criminal justice agencies, and would require the task
force, among other things, to study the shortage of mental health
workers in publicly funded mental health services and develop
recommendations for expansion of their services, including the
establishment of regional training centers that would perform
prescribed functions.  It would require the department to provide
staffing for the task force and would also require the task force to
issue a progress report to the Legislature on its findings on or
before May 1, 2001, and to issue a final report to the Legislature on
or before May 1, 2002.
   The bill would require the department to establish a grant program
for students in California colleges and universities that offer
graduate school programs leading to certain degrees in order to
attract students into employment in publicly funded mental health
services.  It would also require the department to offer forgivable
loans to current full-time employees of counties and to full-time
employees of nonprofit agencies whose services are funded primarily
through county mental health contracts and who meet other specified
criteria.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:


  SECTION 1.  The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:
   (a) There is a growing shortage of mental health professionals,
and there is a need for more qualified mental health professionals
throughout California.
   (b) Public mental health programs have difficulty recruiting and
retaining high quality staff for rural areas or large populations of
low-income and linguistic minority families.
   (c) The rising costs of higher education, coupled with a shift in
available financial aid from scholarships and grants to loans, make
loan repayment options an important consideration in a student's
decision to pursue a postsecondary education.
   (d) The availability of financial aid and loan repayment
assistance are important considerations for many students, especially
economically disadvantaged students, in making their educational
decisions.
  SEC. 2.  Section 4341.1 is added to the Welfare and Institutions
Code, to read:
   4341.1.  (a) The task force funded by Schedule (a) of Item
4440-001-0001 of Section 2.00 of the Budget Act of 2000 (Ch. 52,
Stats. 2000) to address and identify options for meeting the staffing
needs of state and county health, human services, and criminal
justice agencies shall include a representative from the State
Department of Mental Health, who shall serve as chair, the Secretary
of the Health and Human Services Agency or his or her designee, a
representative of the Youth and Adult Correctional Agency, the
Secretary for Education or his or her designee, a representative of
the California Mental Health Planning Council, and representatives of
the University of California, including the University of California
medical schools and medical residency training programs, the
California State University, the California Community Colleges, the
California School Boards Association, the Association of California
School Administrators, the Medical Board of California, the Board of
Behavioral Sciences, the Board of Psychology, the California Mental
Health Directors Association, the California Council of Community
Mental Health Agencies, the National Alliance for the Mentally
Ill-California, the California Network of Mental Health Clients, the
United Advocates for Children of California, and the California
Alliance of Child and Family Services.  The State Department of
Mental Health shall provide staff to the task force.
   (b) The task force shall do all of the following:
   (1) Study the shortage of mental health workers in publicly funded
mental health services and develop recommendations for expansion of
all of the following:
   (A) Programs such as the Human Services Academy currently
established by the Mental Health Association of Los Angeles and the
Los Angeles Unified School District to offer high school students
education about mental health problems, services, and information
about the meaning and value to society of service in publicly funded
mental health care.
   (B) Programs that expand graduate school programs.
   (C) Ways to expand the utilization of those who have been
consumers of mental health services.
   (D) Ways to engage community college students, four-year college
undergraduates, and college graduates in careers leading to mental
health service.
   (E) Efforts to change the curriculum of programs, undergraduate,
graduate, and postgraduate, including medical residency programs,
that could lead to employment in public mental health programs to
make sure there is clinical training and education that complements
and supports employment in public mental health programs.
   (F) Revisions, as may be necessary, to licensing requirements
including recommendations for proposed legislation, and scope of
practice issues that maximize the opportunity to utilize consumers
and are consistent with the types of services likely to be required
to serve seriously emotionally disturbed children and severely
mentally ill adults who need a wide array of services as set forth in
the children's and adults' systems of care.
   (G) Financial supports in the form of stipends, loan forgiveness,
or other programs that could be accomplished through state or federal
funds that would further support the need for employment.
   (2) Annually quantify the need for different types of providers in
different regions of the state including the cost, positions, and
projected future needs.
   (3) Evaluate the impact of competition from the private sector on
the availability of mental health professionals in the public sector.

   (4) Address other issues of collaboration and coordination between
the educational system, the licensing boards, and the mental health
system that are impeding progress in expanding the mental health
workforce.
   (5) Address issues of collaboration and coordination within the
various levels of the educational system that are impeding progress
in expanding the mental health workforce.
   (6) Develop recommendations to ensure all of the following:
   (A) Two-year and four-year colleges have sufficient capacity to
train all the mental health staff needed.
   (B) Issues that obstruct development of a career ladder between
two-year and four-year schools are eliminated.
   (C) Community college programs have clear delineation of both
skills and theory that need to be mastered for each type of position.

   (D) There are new certificate programs for psychosocial
rehabilitation at the community college level and post baccalaureate
case management.
   (7) Examine options for collaboration on curriculum between
employees in the public mental health system, and high schools,
community colleges, and undergraduate and graduate education
programs.
   (c) The task force shall issue a progress report to the
Legislature on its findings on or before May 1, 2001, and shall issue
a final report to the Legislature on or before May 1, 2002.
